One Good Soldier

two different directions. One of the wings ricocheted off her canopy but did no damage she could detect.

'Savior Team One, we have got to get our focus back on to those SIF generators!' She straightened out her flight path and pulled her trajectory back around to the supercarrier. 'Jawbone, Popstar? You with me?'

'Roger that, Deuce,' Jawbone replied.

'I'm on Jaw's wing,' Popstar added.

'Good. Goat, wing up with me, and let's get back down there and get those damned SIFs knocked out!'

Other than the enemy supercarrier and the hauler that the fleet ships had managed to knock out of commission at the start, the battle had not gone that great. The Roosevelt and the Madira had managed to catch one of the supercarriers in a cross fire just above the QMT facility and did overtax that ship's SIFs and armor briefly. The sensors had shown that they were ablating the hull and that atmosphere was venting from the enemy ship into space. Then RADM Wallace Jefferson realized that the damned Seppy bastards were pulling the same trick on him. The lone ship advancing on them from the rear was just bait.

As soon as the Madira and the Roosevelt pulled away from the Lincoln and Tyler, three enemy battle cruiser–class ships jaunted into position, splitting the fleet into two groups. Now they were in a mix of two enemy supercarriers at thirty-thousand kilometers altitude above the planet in non-Keplerian hover orbits. Just above them were the Lincoln and the Tyler. Above the Lincoln and Tyler were the three enemy battle cruisers that had just jaunted into position. Then came the Madira, with the QMT facility off to starboard. Above the Madira was another enemy supercarrier, and beyond that enemy ship was the Roosevelt. There were still two battle cruisers, a supercarrier, and one hauler that the enemy was holding in reserve, way out around two hundred and fifty kilometers or so. Wallace wasn't quite sure why they were waiting to swoop in for the kill. But at the moment he had too much on his mind to worry about the ships that were not engaging him and the fleet.

'CO! CHENG!'

'Go, CHENG!' the admiral answered from his captain's chair. The Madira was rocking left and right and up and down from the overwhelming punishment she was taking. Wally kept his seat belt pulled tight against his midsection.

'Admiral! We're gonna lose the SIF generators in three minutes if this pounding continues. They just can't take it any longer,' Commander Joe Buckley Jr. warned him.

'Keep them running, Joe! If those SIFs go out, we'll get boarded for certain!' the admiral ordered. He turned to his executive officer off-mike. 'XO, better get marines stationed at all critical systems of the ship, and I want everybody carrying a sidearm or an HVAR.'

'Aye, sir.' The XO turned and started sending orders to onboard security details.

'Sorry, sir,' the CHENG continued. 'There will be nothing we can do unless we can jaunt out of here and cool off for a few minutes. The DEGs and AA systems are running full bore and have taxed the coolant systems to the max. Which would you rather lose first, sir, the SIFs or the DEGs or the AA guns?'

'I don't want to lose any of 'em, CHENG! Figure it out!' the admiral ordered his new chief engineer.

'Yes, sir. But I just wanted to advise you, sir, that if the SIFs go, everything is gonna go quickly, sir!' Commander Buckley's voice sounded pretty certain. Wallace was fairly good at determining if his officers were exaggerating a situation due to fear, and he didn't think Joe was that type of officer. Hell, he knew Buckley wasn't. The kid had already damned near killed himself to protect the ship. Wallace figured he'd better take his advice.

'Very well, CHENG.' Wallace thought for a second or two, trying to figure out what tactic to take. 'Keep at it, Joe.'

'CO!' the ground boss called for his attention.

'Go, James.'

'Sir, we desperately need to get some air support dirtside. Our tanks and AEMs are taking a pounding. The Robots, the Warlords, and the entire AAI battalion are constantly calling for support, sir. Casualty rates are growing beyond acceptable rates, sir.' The one-star Army general also sounded certain that things were getting rough downstairs. This battleplan wasn't working worth a damn, and Wallace knew he needed to make a change in his tactics quickly